Airbag covers made of plastic which form one or two flaps which each have preferential fracture lines at three edges which break apart after triggering the airbag and which form a hinge around which the flap swivels at the fourth edge, but which does not break apart at the fourth edge to provide that the flap is not propelled into the interior of the motor vehicle, have previously been described. This secure retention of the flap in the region of the hinge is achieved via additional non-breaking threads in the hinge region, as is described in EP 2 057 044.
DE 10 2012 021 315 A1 describes that the hinge of an airbag cover flap can have a fold or loop which unfolds during the opening of the hinge and thus makes additional movement available to the flap. This technology is mainly utilized when textiles such as woven fabrics (for example, aramids or polyesters) are used. The intention is here that upon opening of the airbag, the layer thickness within the dashboard, resulting from supportive material, spacer medium (for example, foam or knitted spacer fabric, or the like) and from the decorative material, is bridged so that the flap opens sufficiently widely to permit a complete and unhindered deployment of the airbag without the flap breaking away. The loop is generally introduced during the actual injection process by using splits which form the loop after insertion of the shaped material into the injection mold.
This processing step is complicated and risky. An alternative is therefore introducing the loop in an upstream process with a plurality of individual steps. It is here necessary to fix the loop via an additional retention system, for example, an adhesive or some other attachment form. This approach has also previously been described. This process is, however, time-consuming and expensive because a plurality of operating steps exist.